Gas well inspections increase, violations decrease
An increase in inspections of Marcellus shale natural gas wells across the state has resulted in fewer violations, which indicates that drillers are doing a better job of complying with regulations, a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) official said.
The pattern of more inspections and fewer violations holds true locally, but more wells are now being inspected in Fayette County than in Greene County, even though Greene County has more than twice the number of wells.
In Greene County, 25 violations were found during 344 inspections of 148 unconventional wells in 2010; 15 violations were reported in 324 inspections of 189 wells, and 13 violations were found in 514 inspections of 281 wells last year. So far this year, nine violations were found in 166 inspections of 132 wells. There are 676 Marcellus wells in the county.
Violations found at all wells in Greene County resulted in five fines in 2010; six fines in 2011; three fines last year and none so far this year.
In Fayette County, two violations were found during 194 inspections of 71 unconventional wells in 2010; 17 violations were reported during 604 inspections of 113 wells, and 11 violations were found in 642 inspections of 160 wells last year, according to the DEP’s Bureau of Oil and Gas Management compliance reports. As of last week, no violations were found in 209 inspections of 126 wells. There are 308 Marcellus wells in the county.
Violations found at all natural gas wells in Fayette County resulted in seven fines in 2010; eight fines in 2011; five fines last year and none so far this year.
Statewide, 1,277 violations were found during 5,244 inspections of 2,001 unconventional wells in 2010; 1,216 violations were reported during 10,521 inspections of 3,930 wells in 2011, and 712 violations were found in 12,572 inspections of 4,841 wells in 2012. As of Wednesday, 260 violations were found during 4,272 inspections of 2,624 wells.
“We saw a decrease in violations in unconventional wells, meaning the performance by operators has been improving,” said DEP spokesman Kevin Sunday. “They’re improving their site management practices, being more responsible about waste and water management and getting closer to the world-class performance we expect.”
Inspections of unconventional wells has increased 150 percent over the last several years, he said.
The procedure for issuing notices of violations from inspections was revised in 2011 following a review.
Administrators in the DEP’s central office in Harrisburg looked at all the violations issued from mid-January through late June to determine whether regulations were being enforced consistently by staff in the Southwest, Northwest and North Central regional offices, which are located in oil and gas development areas.
“As a result, we established a standard water quality inspection form and more training for violation codes and how to enter them into the database. There was some inconsistency on how things were entered,” Sunday said.
The review did not result in hiring additional inspectors. The number of inspectors increased to 83 after more were hired in 2009 and 2010. The Southwest Regional Office has 28 inspectors covering Greene, Fayette, Washington, Westmoreland, Somerset, Beaver, Allegheny, Armstrong, Indiana and Cambria counties.
“The same amount of inspectors are doing more work. We’ve gotten to a more consistent approach. That’s helped us get better performance out of the drillers,” Sunday said.
Improved compliance among drillers has reduced the need to issue fines for violations, but the DEP will issue fines when they are warranted, he said.
He pointed to the $1 million fine the DEP imposed on Chesapeake Energy in 2011 after methane from a company well migrated into 16 residents’ water wells in Bradford County and for a tank fire in Washington County.
Act 13 of 2012, which established impact fees, tripled the amount of the fine the DEP can assess, he said.
“We’ve made it clear that we’ll take strong action wherever needed,” Sunday said.